


Sometimes I Get Nervous When I See An Open Door

by Chash



Series: Miss Atomic Bomb [9]
Category: The Immortals - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Daine is still not eighteen, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 02:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1881072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daine gets an invitation and learns a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes I Get Nervous When I See An Open Door

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sadcypress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadcypress/gifts), [setissma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/setissma/gifts).



It doesn't occur to Daine that she doesn't really have the kind of girlfriends she can talk to about boys until Kaddar asks her out on a date and she has no one to talk to about it. Miri, her roommate from last year, would be fine, except she's on some bike trip all summer, and not really available to chat. There's Onua, who's like the big sister she never had, but not the big sister she'd ask about boys. Maura is too young. And that's the end of her list of girlfriends, until she remembers Alanna.

Alanna is a little older, but she's smart and nice and in a successful relationship. It's probably a little awkward, since they don't know each other that well, but even so, she feels like they're friends.

She doesn't actually have Alanna's number, so she stops by Maud's and then by the Dancing Dove. Alanna isn't there, but George is behind the bar, and he waves and gives her a free Sprite before she's even had a chance to say anything.

"I'm not sure I'm staying," she protests, laughing.

"Not even to have a drink and keep me company for a bit? You're breakin' my heart."

Daine shakes head head, laughing. Now that she's used to George's flirting, it's really pretty funny. "If you think that's bad, just wait. I'm actually here looking for Alanna. Is she around?"

"You're in luck," says George. "She's upstairs havin' a girl's night with Thayet and Buri."

Daine makes a face. "I can't imagine Alanna having a girl's night."

"From what I can tell it's just drinkin' wine and playin' video games. Same as when she hangs out with Jon, except she drinks beer with Jon. You remember how to get up there?"

"Oh," Daine says, flushing. "I wouldn't want to interrupt. I can wait."

George waves his hand. "They'll be happy to see you. Don't worry about it." He gives her a gentle smile, which is strange from George. "You came for a reason, right? All this way, it must've been important."

"Not really," Daine hedges, embarrassed. _I don't know if I want to go out on a date with a boy_ is really pretty minor. 

"If you don't go, I'll tell her you were here and _didn't_ go." He smirks. "You'll hurt her feelin's."

Daine scowls at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you don't play fair?"

"Always. Finish up your drink and go say hi."

Alanna looks puzzled when she opens the door, but beams when she sees Daine. She's clearly a little tipsy, but not too drunk. "Hey! What are you doing here? Come on in." She ushers Daine in and turns to the two girls on the couch. "Daine, this is my roommate--"

"Ex-roommate, don't even pretend you don't live here now," one of the girls, strikingly beautiful with long black hair and hazel eyes, interjects.

"Roommate slash ex-roommate, Thayet. And that's her girlfriend, Buri. This is Daine, she works at our vet's, and she's a friend of Numair's. Have you met Numair?"

"The absent-minded professor?" asks Thayet. Daine snickers.

"You've met Numair," Alanna says dryly. "Do you--not want a drink, you're more underage than Buri. A non-wine drink? Something to eat? Next round of Smash Brothers? I only have two controllers."

"We have to come here to play because Alanna took her Wii when she totally moved out of our room," Thayet says, grinning at Alanna.

"I did move out of our room," Alanna admits. "Fine. I live with George now. But there's a cat here! And Buri moved in, so you can't really complain."

"No, I can't," Thayet agrees. "I just like giving you shit."

Daine looks at her feet, feeling awkward. These aren't her friends, and she feels embarrassed being here, intruding.

"Here, come into the kitchen," says Alanna. "You can see if there's anything you want to eat." George's apartment isn't large, and the kitchen is still attached to the living room, but there's enough of a wall that it feels more private. Alanna leans against the counter. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's stupid," she says, laughing softly. "I actually--I needed boy advice?"

"Oh," says Alanna, going pale. "Then--you should talk to Thayet and Buri. Or at least Thayet. I'm terrible at boy advice."

"You have a boyfriend. And they seem to be lesbians," Daine says dubiously.

"Still. I guess you can ask me, but I'll probably just ask them."

"One of the counselors at the camp me and Numair are working with for the nature hikes asked if I wanted to go on a date. And I don't know what to say."

Alanna frowns. "Do you like him?"

"He's fine," Daine says. "He's fun to talk to and smart and all. I don't know."

Alanna looks like she swallowed a lemon. "I don't know either. Let's ask Thayet."

"Well, how did you know? With George?"

"I don't think it's really applicable. It's not like he ever asked me out. And he thought I was a boy for the first six months he knew me. And then I thought he didn't want to really date me, and would have thought that forever if he hadn't corrected me. Can we please ask Thayet? She's dated people!"

"Okay," Daine says. They go back out and Alanna explains to Thayet, who nods along.

"It's not like I've never--" Daine says, flushing. "Done anything." She had sex just to get it over with when she was living in the system, and it was fine, she supposes. She doesn't regret it. "But no one's ever just asked me out on a date before."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. Alanna isn't good at dating."

"I'm awful at it," Alanna agrees. "I just get attached to people, and either they date me or they break my heart. If you don't already like him, I'm not much help."

It's hard to imagine Alanna being heartbroken. Daine wonders who did it.

"I think dating's great," says Thayet.

Buri snorts. "You hadn't dated anyone in a year when I asked you out."

"True. I liked dating for a while, but dating high-school boys is bad. Is he a high-school boy?"

"He's going to be a freshman next year. But he's older than I am."

"Hm," says Thayet. She leans forward, grinning. "Is he cute?"

"He's handsome, I s'pose," says Daine. She hadn't really thought about it. "Striking. One of the other counselors is always flirting with him."

"And you aren't jealous," says Thayet.

Daine shrugs. "He asked me out, didn't he? I don't have any reason to be jealous."

Thayet clucks her tongue. "Well, if you think you might like him, you should say yes! Unless you're Alanna, a date doesn't mean much."

"Thanks," says Alanna, dryly.

"What if he thinks it means something?"

"Then you tell him it doesn't."

"Or you don't go," says Buri. "If you don't think it'll be fun, say no."

"Obviously, yes," says Thayet. "Just remember, it's not marriage. It's just a date. Think of it as an experiment. If you have fun, you can keep doing it. If you don't, you can stop."

They invite her to stick around, but Daine doesn't drink, and there's only so much fun she can have watching three other people getting drunk and fighting over video games. Once she's done with that, she heads back downstairs. She pushes the door open and hears George saying, "I don't think Alanna and I are a great model to go by."

She pauses, curious to hear what he's going to say. It's not eavesdropping, she tells herself. It's just not going out yet.

"Age isn't a big deal, more--circumstance," he continues.

"I don't know what you mean." That's _Numair_.

"She might've gotten disowned, but she's still goin' to graduate and do something amazin' with her life. I don't know what I'm goin' to do with mine yet, but it's not lookin' as rosy for me."

"Alanna doesn't--"

"I know she doesn't care," George says. "I don't care either most days. I'm just lucky her da disowned her before he found out about me, or he'd probably put a hit out, and that'd be a shame. But if there's a gap for us, it's not that I'm older'n she is. It's that she's just startin' out and I'm already settled into my life." There's a pause and Daine's about to go out when George says. "But that's not how it is with you and Daine."

That stops her right up.

"I know we give you crap about how young she is, but I know you didn't know. And the two of you aren't too different. You're both at school and you're goin' to be there at least as long as her. Probably be forty and gettin' another degree, knowin' you."

Numair laughs softly. Daine's heart is pounding. They can't possibly be talking about what she thinks they're talking about. She was eavesdropping, and now she's paying the price. Hearing things that cannot possibly be true.

"Just wait until she's eighteen and ask her out," George says. Numair starts to protest, and George says, "If she's not dating the other guy, of course. But this is the only time I'll ever just give you straight advice, so you'd best listen. She's not goin' to say yes if she's not interested. And I don't think you're gettin' rid of her now. She likes us. So just give it a try and move on if it doesn't work out. Get it over with."

"Will you stop calling her my underage girlfriend if she says no?"

"I'll try."

Daine glances around. There's a fire exit past the stairs, one that doesn't go through the bar. But George will know if she leaves without saying goodbye, and he'll wonder why. But Numair is _out there_. Numair is out there, and he likes her, and George knows, and he calls her Numair's underage girlfriend. George knows, and that means _Alanna_ probably knows, and Daine was just upstairs asking about Kaddar when _Numair_ is--

She takes a few deep breaths, and goes back to the door. George is talking about Alanna's girl's night. That's safe to walk in on.

She pushes the door open and manages a pretty normal smile for Numair. "I thought I heard you out here," she says, sitting down next to him, inescapably aware of his proximity, his warmth, his smell.

When he smiles back at her, her stomach flips.

Numair _likes her_.

"Hello, Daine," he says. Her heart is _pounding_.

"How's Alanna?" George asks.

"Drunk."

"That's my girl. Did you have fun?"

Daine glances over at Numair. He _likes her_. "I guess."

*

"Well, this is unexpected."

Rikash might be Daine's best friend, which she knows is a pathetic state of affairs. The two of them met in foster care, and kept running into each other when they'd get bounced out of homes for one reason or another. They'd spent a good two years hating each other--she thought he was a delinquent, he thought she was a goodie-two-shoes--until Maura came along and got attached to both of them and pretty much forced them to stop sniping. And then, somehow, friendship happened. She still doesn't really understand it. But she wouldn't give him up for the world.

"To what do I owe the honor?" he continues. "I thought you were too good for us now."

This morning, she woke up, called Kaddar and told him she was flattered, but not interested, unless he'd like to have dinner as friends. She got as far as googling if being an emancipated minor means she's also over the age of consent, but closed the tab before she looked at any of the results. She was so distracted at work that even Dr. Reed noticed, and he routinely forgets to eat if Daine doesn't remind him.

So she called Rikash.

"Don't tell me you missed me," she teases.

Rikash rolls his eyes. "Perish the thought." He can't keep it up, though; he breaks and grins. Daine grins back. "So, how is college?"

"It's alright. Good, actually. Better than high school. I just take the classes I like."

"I didn't have any of those."

"Any time you'd like to stop pretending to be an uncultured savage, I'm ready for it," Daine says.

"Don't hold your breath. So, really, why did you call?"

Daine swirls her finger around the rim of her glass. "I need boy advice."

Rikash laughs so hard he nearly chokes. "I thought you'd be making _friends_ at college. Surely you must have _someone_ better to go to than me."

"They all know him! And I'm not supposed to know he's interested, I was eavesdropping. Besides, they were his friends first, it's unfair to put them in the middle."

"This is so much better than I thought it would be. Go on, please. I'm just dying to hear about your love life."

"His name's Numair," says Daine. "He was my TA for biology last semester--"

"Hot for teacher? You? How scandalous."

"Do you want to hear this or not?" He waves his hand in a go-on gesture. "I'd go to his office hours a lot, so we became kind of friends, I suppose. And we're working together doing nature tours this summer. I wouldn't have thought he'd be interested in me, but I heard him and one of our friends talking about it the other night."

"I don't see what the problem is. So far this is sickeningly wholesome, just like I'd expect from you."

"He's twenty-five. George calls me his underage girlfriend."

Rikash snickers, and Daine has to smile too.

"I know. But it _is_ a pretty big gap. I don't think he likes it."

"Do you?"

"I hadn't thought about it until last night," Daine admits. She looks down, flushing. "He's handsome and brilliant and--"

"Please spare me."

"I was going to say _so much older_. I was sure he had some girlfriend his own age much prettier than me, when I bothered wondering about it."

"Yes, it _is_ a bit of a concern that he thinks you're the best he can do, at his age."

"Thanks," says Daine dryly. "Your regard means the world to me."

Rikash grins. "I don't know what you were expecting, coming to me for advice. You can't be far from eighteen now, right?"

"Two weeks. Well, twelve days, to be exact."

"Not that you're counting," he teases. "Anyway. You're decently attractive now. Just wear a low-cut top on your birthday and let him do the rest." He considers. "Although, maybe I should meet him. Just to make sure he's good enough for you."

Daine laughs. "We're at the Dancing Dove most evenings," she says. "You're welcome to join us."

"The Dancing Dove isn't very friendly to my sort of people. I hear Cooper cleared all that out."

She frowns. "George?"

Rikash shrugs. "Could be. All I know is, several years ago the Dancing Dove was quite the hotbed of criminal activity. They hired a new bartender, Cooper, who was supposed to look the other way, but he went straight and cleaned the place up. And he keeps it clean. It that sounds like George, then George it must be."

Daine doesn't ever ask for the details of what Rikash does. She knows it's not strictly legal, and that's all she ever wants to know. She doesn't want to ever be in the position where she might be able to tell on him. Still, she knows enough to know he's not easily intimidated, and it's odd thinking that George Cooper, of all people, might do it. He's an incurable flirt, laid back and easy going, but--now that she thinks about it, she's seen the hard edge lurking on the edges of his smile.

"It might be," she grants. "But if you just come to get a drink and see me, he's not going to kick you out."

"I'll think about it."

"I would like to see more of you," Daine says. "Once you turned eighteen, it was like you decided you couldn't talk to us anymore. Maura misses you too. She says you never return her emails."

"I don't want either of you getting dragged into my life," Rikash says, looking away. "Especially Maura. She has a good family now, I wouldn't want to compromise that."

Daine bites her lip. "I think you're being fair foolish," she says. "But I understand all the same."

He gives her a wry smile. "Why don't we talk about something less depressing? Tell me more about this Numair, I'm sure I'll find something to laugh about."

*

"Did you ever figure out that dilemma you were having?" Alanna asks the next time they're all in the Dancing Dove. George isn't working, and Jon and Raoul are there, so they're all crammed into a booth in the back with a giant plate of chili fries. Daine is tucked into Numair's side and trying not to think about it, but he keeps smiling at her or moving, and he has his arm over the bench for lack of anywhere else to put it. It's a little around Raoul, too, though, and he doesn't seem to think it means anything.

She blushes and gives Alanna a sheepish smile. "I did," she says. "I said no."

Alanna was quiet with her question, private, but Numair still asks, "No to what?"

"Kaddar asked me on a date," she says. "You know, the counselor." Numair's already aware, she knows. Even if she hadn't heard him and George talking about it, Kaddar had mentioned it himself, fishing to see if there was anything between them. Numair had _menaced_ him. Daine's caught between feeling amused, flattered, and annoyed.

"Ah, yes," says Numiar. "He had mentioned he was thinking about it."

"He did, did he? And why did he mention that to you?"

"Sorry I asked," Alanna mutters, but she's smiling.

"I think he wanted to know if I thought you'd say yes."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him he should ask you."

"Hm," says Daine, eyeing him. "That's not what he said."

Numair blanches. "Ah. Well. I might have overreacted. At first."

"You don't say."

"I'm sorry," he says, sounding genuine. "It wasn't any of my business."

She's turning eighteen in nine days. It's hard to be upset, knowing what she knows. So she snuggles against Numair's side, breathing him in and closing her eyes. "I'll forgive you," she says. "I didn't want to go out with him anyway. And you're not very good at scaring people off."

"I _could_ have scared him," Numair says, petulantly. His arm wraps around her shoulders, tugging her closer. "If I hadn't apologized, he never would have dared to cross me. I'm very intimating"

Daine smiles. "I'm sure you are."

Nine days. She can wait nine days.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] Sometimes I Get Nervous When I See An Open Door](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2484287) by [knight_tracer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knight_tracer/pseuds/knight_tracer)




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